Lakewood, Colorado | Municipal GHG Emissions Inventory and Emissions Reduction Analysis
Municipal GHG Emissions Inventory and Emissions Reduction Analysis
In 2018 The City of Lakewood requested assistance from Lotus to evaluate the GHG emission reduction potential for each primary strategy and to qualitatively rank the potential reduction impact for each secondary strategy. This effort provided the City data to vet improvement strategies and to develop GHG emission reduction targets. From this effort the City was able to work towards achieving the following goals:
Understand GHG emission reduction potentials for all identified improvement strategies.
Become familiar with gaps in existing data.
Understand which factors influence GHG emissions and which metrics can be used to track GHG emissions.
Be prepared for future sustainability planning efforts, such as a revised GHG inventory, initiatives to capture missing data, and a GHG emission dashboard.
In 2015 Lakewood selected Lotus to help develop Lakewood’s first comprehensive municipal operations greenhouse gas emissions inventory and other related deliverables to set them up for a municipal decarbonization planning project. The goal of this effort is to establish a 2024 greenhouse gas emissions baseline. Additionally, Lotus identified long-term, municipal GHG emission reduction targets and developed, modeled, and forecasted reduction strategies. Finally, Lotus outlined a process for City staff to update the inventories and track progress towards climate goals in future years. The final report for the City took the form of a StoryMap, which includes an emissions dashboard, to present to the public the important work that the City is doing in the sustainability space.
“As part of Lakewood’s Sustainability Plan development process, we realized the value of measuring the plan strategies’ potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Emily Artale at Lotus Engineering and Sustainability provided the exact service we needed through a collaborative process and an extensive analysis. Her work will allow Lakewood to determine how we can meet our greenhouse gas reduction targets and become a more sustainable community.”
